It’s a bad time to want a new computer

It’s not entirely surprising that RAMaggeddon makes new tech devices really expensive. But if you’re in the market for things like a new computer or tablet, this week has been a bit of a shocker. Considering the number of companies announcing price hikes due to component shortages, it seems unlikely that things will get cheaper anytime soon.

Valve kicked off the week by finally revealing the price of the Steam Machine, its long-awaited console-like PC that, in our tests, has performance on par With PS5. He – she It starts Priced at $1,049nearly double the price of the six-year-old PS5, for the base configuration with 512GB of storage and no controller. The bundled console adds an extra $79, and if you want the 2TB model, you’ll have to pay another $300. (If you still want one nearby at this price, well, I hope you entered the sweepstakes.)

Before launching, valve He had warned The components crisis forced it to review its pricing plans. When asked in a recent interview by Computer games The only thing he would change about the steam engine is, valve engineer Yazan Al-Dahiyat said, “Make it cheaper.” Although the company did not explain the planned initial price, it appears that if you deduct $250 or $300 from current Steam Machine prices, it will reach On the field From where Valve was originally thinking.

Microsoft rolled out some new, cheaper options for Surface devices this week, though they’re still quite pricey. Company assortment Includes now The 12-inch Surface Pro is $849 and the 13-inch Surface Laptop is $949, ​​but they come with a major drawback: Microsoft has cut the amount of built-in RAM in half, dropping it from 16GB to 8GB. However, it’s less expensive than the previous base versions of these devices, which recently jumped to $1,049 and $1,199 as part of Boost from rising surface prices.

And just today, two Major companies announced price increases. Apple provided Sweeping price rise On its own affecting MacBooks, iPads, and even devices like the HomePod and Apple TV. MacBook Neo which It was theft Originally priced at $599, it now starts at $699, for example. (We have a list of all New prices hereand they are not pretty.) Apple give Bloomberg statement about the price hikes, saying they were due to component cost increases on a scale “the company has never seen before” due to the data center boom.

Xbox announced higher prices for the console With a value of $100 or moreWhich means the six-year-old Xbox Series S now starts at $499.99 with prices only going up from there. in Blog postMicrosoft blamed the component shortage, saying that “console and memory storage prices have increased more than 2.5 times and we expect another doubling by the fall of 2027.”

If you’re looking for a new PC or PC, whether it’s for gaming, school or anything you might need, the lack of memory and storage means hardware is now costing more. And with ram and Solid state drives There is still a severe shortage of supply – a situation that is likely to continue for a very long time – these higher prices may not be a temporary thing but instead are our new reality. If even Apple, known for its mastery of the supply chain, is forced to raise prices, is anyone immune?

The construction of a large AI data center is largely to blame. If an individual building a computer at home or a tech company searching for parts for their next product needs components like memory or storage, they are competing with an AI or hyperscaler company that may be willing to pay more for what is becoming increasingly limited inventory. Valve said as much in Interview published this week; If the company did not take the quoted prices, the suppliers would “never speak to us again”.

The competition for data center parts is based on the bet that artificial intelligence will be a key part of how people use computers and interact with technology in the future. Hyperscalers are racing to build infrastructure to train their AI models and provide AI-based services to individuals and businesses. But the short supply of components means that purchasing computers has become increasingly more miserable for ordinary consumers. Today, everything in technology is more expensive than it was yesterday.

There’s no end in sight: hyperscalers are spending Mouthwatering amounts of money To build computing power so they can bring AI into everything we do. This makes computers more expensive, and could be just the beginning of what is to come.